Based between his hometown of Lubumbashi and since 2010 his adoptive home of Brussels, Baloji mines the ramifications of Belgian colonisation and extractivism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His research culminated in a survey show this year at Goldsmiths CCA in London, which featured, among other things, a new commission that drew connections between extraction and Belgian art nouveau, and a collaborative performance that recounted the story of the first Black bishop appointed by the Catholic Church in the fifteenth century. But Baloji’s actual power lies in his role as a catalyst for his hometown’s art scene: as a cofounder of an independent association that supports local artists, Atelier Picha, he has been instrumental in establishing the Lubumbashi Biennale, which launched its 8th edition in October under the title Towards an Antidote to Toxicity. Focusing on the legacy of Congolese thinker Valentin-Yves Mudimbe, this year’s iteration seeks to imagine the possibilities of anticolonial engagement with the colonial archive through the works of artists from across the country and beyond.